The habit of randomly and lazily assigning every instance of bad or abusive behavior to a diagnosis creates a dangerous and cruel pattern of automatically associating abusive behaviors with these diagnoses, and in some cases even defining these diagnoses according to a set of abusive behaviors. This association, not to mention the sheer amount of misinformation, increases stigma for neurodiverse people or mentally ill people, who we know are far more likely to be the targets of violent and abusive behavior than the perpetrators. This shitty shorthand makes it harder for us to seek and access treatment, speak honestly about our experiences, be believed or taken seriously when we do have problems, and generally function in the world. Stigma isolates and kills people. Assuming bad behaviors can only be the result of pathology infantilizes people and removes their agency and responsibility for their actions, while letting bad operators keep right on operating.

“Darmok,” the 102nd episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, is a longtime favorite among both Trekkies and linguists. Case in point: the first time I saw it wasn’t on TV but in a linguistic anthropology class at the University of Minnesota. In the episode, Picard and the Enterprise crew encounter the Children of Tama, who speak entirely in metaphors and references—a system that stumps the Trek world’s universal translator, which can only translate the literal meaning of the words.

The internet is a crucial environment for our lives. Friendships, relationships, work, activism, commerce, and so many other forms of social connections take place digitally. As we thrive in these internet spaces, harassment and violence along intersecting axes of oppression are felt with unchecked force. Trolls launch campaigns of abuse and intimidation, hackers seek to exploit and manipulate your private data, and companies mine and sell your activity for profit. These threats to digital autonomy are gendered, racialized, queerphobic, transphobic, ableist, and classist in nature. The severity of these threats can have vast physical and psychological repercussions for those who experience them: they cannot be taken lightly.